When did the catholic church acknowledge that the universe is heliocentric?

Question

and how did they explain themselves?

Answer 1

Interesting question:
In 1664, Pope Alexander VII issued "Index Librorum Prohibitorum Alexandri VII Pontificis Maximi jussu editus" which condemned geocentric (Ptolemaic) models, the competitor to heliocentric models.

In 1757, Pope Benedict XIV suspended the ban on heliocentric models based upon the mathematical proofs of Newton. Benedict XIV was progressive; in 1741 he issued a bull condemning the enslavement of American indigenous peoples, something revolutionary for the time.

In 1822, Pope Pius VII allowed heliocentric books to be printed in Rome.

The heliocentric view was discredited by 19th and 20th century scientific discoveries and theory.

No subsequent major issuances have occured as far as doctrine of cosmology - there seems to be little reason to assert Scriptural acceptance of Einstein's special case of relativity that would imply some point in the universe is at rest and is therefore the center (rather than the sun).

The concept of Heliocentric universe was believed and debated often in the Middle Ages. Bishop Nicole Oresme was one who argued for a rotating earth. 15th-century Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa argued that the universe has no center (which is closer to the truth, actually).

However, Heliocentrism was denounced at the time of Aristarchus (contemporary to St. Paul the Apostle). Copernicus published his mathematical treatise of heliocentrism in 1543, but noted it does not represent reality. He also wasn't a troublemaker, so the Pope left him alone. Luther and Calvin, however, reportedly decried Copernicus for being anti-Scriptural.

Answer 2

I didn't know, so I had to look this up:

"Yes, the Church recognizes that the decision was wrong, but that recognition took place long before John Paul II made the formal apology in 1992. Copernicus’s book and thus the heliocentric system was removed from the Index of Prohibited Books in the eighteenth century. The Church, long before the past two decades, accepted Galileo’s approach to the reconciliation of science and Scripture as well founded. For example, Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical Providentissimus Deus (November 18, 1893) in which he basically endorsed Galileo’s approach to the reconciliation of apparent conflicts between the Catholic faith and science. I say "apparent conflicts" because neither Galileo nor the official Church ever believed that there could be true conflicts between the Christian faith and science. Leo in the nineteenth century, Galileo and Bellarmine in the seventeenth, all affirmed the ultimate agreement between truths of faith and truths of science."

The whole page is an interesting read.

Answer 3

Some time before 1741.

Pope Benedict XIV granted an imprimatur (an official approval) to the first edition of the Complete Works of Galileo in 1741.

“[Galileo] declared explicitly that the two truths, of faith and of science, can never contradict each other, 'Sacred Scripture and the natural world proceeding equally from the divine Word, the first as dictated by the Holy Spirit, the second as a very faithful executor of the commands of God', as he wrote in his letter to Father Benedetto Castelli on 21 December 1613. The Second Vatican Council says the same thing, even adopting similar language in its teaching: 'Methodical research, in all realms of knowledge, if it respects... moral norms, will never be genuinely opposed to faith: the reality of the world and of faith have their origin in the same God' (Gaudium et Spes, 36). Galileo sensed in his scientific research the presence of the Creator who, stirring in the depths of his spirit, stimulated him, anticipating and assisting his intuitions”
-- John Paul II, Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (10 November 1979): Insegnamenti, II, 2 (1979), 1111-1112.

From the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_15101998_fides-et-ratio_en.html

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

Not until well after Galileo rubbed their big stupid corrupt faces in it with Jupiters' four visible moons not circling the Earth as Aristotle and inerrant faith demanded.

Nicolaus Copernicus' "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium," published in 1513 AD was entered into the Index of Banned Books in 1616 - and it remained on that list until 1835.

Answer 5

simply by fact they have been attempting to take the Bible one hundred% actually, and it suggested that the earth had "4 corners." That is going to coach how screwed up issues can get once you attempt to stick to Bible literalism. additionally, at that factor the Church grow to be so lots greater political than right this moment. It has matured some on condition that then, and of path admits that sanctioning Galileo grow to be a mistake.

Answer 6

I am waiting to see how the church in general is going to get out of the immense error in pushing creationism and ID. They will be most creative I am sure.

Answer 7

Can't say exactly but several hundred thousand people were 'racked' and 'decapitated' as non-believers before they had their revelation.